The two temples of ABu Simbel, from the front with the Great Temple in the rear right and the small temple front right. The Nile is to the left.

Exhibition Review: Alan Sorrell ‘Nubia’

On October 29, 2025August 14, 2025 By hannahpethenIn Blog, Exhibition reviewLeave a comment

A review of an interesting exhibition on Alan Sorrell's paintings of the Nubian rescue campaign in 1962.

A hand-drawn map with the geology of the gebel marked in orange and tombs with their numbers marked as ink points.

Following Hogarth across the Gebel Asyut el-Gharbi with ArcGIS Story Maps

On August 27, 2025August 19, 2025 By hannahpethenIn Asyut Region Project, Blog, GIS, Web mappingLeave a comment

Can we follow a historic excavator across his site, and how good are ArcGIS Story Maps for modelling that? This post finds out.

Photograph of the Pitt Rivers Museum from Wikimedia Commons, taken in 2015.

Weaponising women: How an article about women’s rights and access is really a criticism of decolonisation.

On September 25, 2024July 22, 2024 By hannahpethenIn Blog, Public archaeology, Traditional and Social Media2 Comments

What do women's right have to do with decolonisation? A lot as it turns out.

Misunderstanding Museums: How criticism of the Pitt Rivers Museum reveals public misunderstandings about how museums work.

On August 28, 2024July 20, 2024 By hannahpethenIn Public archaeology, Traditional and Social Media2 Comments

How do museums work? What proportion of their collection can you see as a visitor? How much is online? And what do changes to the museum mean for physical and digital visits?

Masking masks: Does the Pitt Rivers Museum really ‘hide’ objects from women?

On July 31, 2024July 20, 2024 By hannahpethenIn Blog, Public archaeology, Traditional and Social Media2 Comments

Has the Pitt-Rivers Museum really started hiding objects from women?

Hetepheres II (her mother) and Meresankh III undertake a Hathoric ritual of 'pulling the papyrus', in a papyrus boat above two lower registers of fattening geese and fishing and fowling on papyrus boats. To the left (north), the large figure of Prince Kawab, Meresankh III's father, occupies all three registers, wearing a short black wig with a bracelet and collar, above a long kilt. He faces north, with a long staff, showing his importance in his right hand.

Visiting the tomb of Meresankh III, Eastern Cemetery, Giza G7530-G7540

On April 24, 2024April 10, 2024 By hannahpethenIn SitesLeave a comment

Visiting the unusual tomb of Meresankh III, granddaughter of Khufu, princess and Queen of Egypt.

Grand Egyptian Museum: Grand Staircase Review

On March 28, 2024April 10, 2024 By hannahpethenIn Museum collections3 Comments

A review of the ancient Egyptian sculptures on the Grand Staircase of the Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza.

The photo shows an open court with a hanging obelisk in the centre, flanked by colonnades leading to the entrance of the Grand Egyptian Museum

Grand Egyptian Museum Atrium and Immersive Tutankhamun: Review

On February 28, 2024 By hannahpethenIn Exhibition review2 Comments

The courtyard of the Grand Egyptian Museum, with the entrance to the left and the hanging obelisk of Ramses II to the right. The route from the obelisk to the entrance is flanked by colonnades and shallow lakes. (Author photo) The colossus of Ramses II, in position in the atrium of the GEM. (Author photo). …

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Orthorectifying Worldview-3 satellite imagery of Gebel Asyut el-Gharbi

On December 27, 2023December 18, 2023 By hannahpethenIn Asyut Region Project, GIS, Satellite remote sensingLeave a comment

In my previous posts, I explained how to pan-sharpen and then mosaic Worldview-3 satellite imagery. The final phase of processing the 'ortho-ready' imagery is 'orthorectification'. To orthorectify the Worldview-3 imagery I used a 2m resolution digital surface model (DSM) generated by Digitalglobe from a stereo-pair of Worldview-2 satellite images of the same area of Middle …

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